Very often we are sold a narrative that if we want to change our lives we have to do so in huge and significant ways. We are encouraged to change everything overnight with big moves, big life decisions, and big lifestyle choices.
Unfortunately, very often when we do this we end up halfway across the world but feeling exactly the same as the way we did at the beginning. Feeling the same having not made any of the changes that we really needed to make and in fact having made no real progress at all.
If you want to really change your life in a way that will make you happier, healthier, more social, more active, more content, and more productive, you need to focus on tiny changes that you can keep consistent progress with. It is the small things that we do every day that make up our entire lives more so than it is the big changes and the big life upheavals.
So, if you’re interested, here are some tiny ways to change your life that you can start immediately.
It might take some time and some patience, but self-improvement will always be a journey and not a set of goals. It is a journey that is worth it, however, and it is one that you can start and re-start at any time
Improve your diet
I know, you’ve heard this one a hundred times before.
But this isn’t about losing weight, changing how you look or being a health nut.
Improving your diet is one of the easiest ways to feel happier and be more productive in your everyday life. It can even improve your sleep, your sex drive and your mood regulation levels.
Improving your diet isn’t about being super duper healthy all of the time. It is about being balanced and making sure that you are getting in every food group without overdoing any one thing. It is also about reducing the amount of processed food that enters your diet and reducing caffeine, sugar, and artificial foods.
Keep things as colourful and varied as possible and eat regularly, those are my main two tips for anyone.
Journal
Writing down how you feel and keeping track of your mood, thoughts, and reflections is an amazing way to change your life, and it only takes 10-20 minutes every day.
If you haven’t done it before, you might not see it as that big of a deal.
But journaling is a great way for you to be able to deal with what goes on inside your head and be able to self-regulate any difficult thoughts or feelings that you might be having.
You can also use journaling to set yourself up in the best way possible for your day. This could be with daily goals, affirmations, or with tasks you need to remember.
Whatever way you do it, journalling can act as your own little personal assistant that can get you through some tough weeks.
Ditch social media and read more
Social media trains our brains to want constant and consistent small hits of dopamine and pleasure. That has, over time, retrained our brains to have shorter attention spans and to want validation quicker and more often.
Reading, on the other hand, prompts us to take a longer space of time out of our day to relax, expand our minds, and learn something. Reading is a great way to escape the pressures and speed of modern life and to get back to basics.
Reading can have health benefits too, like increasing your memory and improving your sleep.
If you want to make a small change that will make a big difference in your life, put your phone in a drawer and grab a good book instead. Doing this consistently will help you greatly in the long run.
What tiny changes do you think you could make in your life right now?